OT: FSU vs Northern Illinois in Orange Bowl...
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^
This is why the college football bowl season is a fucking joke
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
I've always hated how bowl games went from exhibitions (e.g., before ~2005, stats didn't count towards all-time records) to now supposedly being the be-all, end-all for how good a team/conference is ("See? Our conference went 6-2 in bowl games - that means we're awesome!").
I doubt NIU is one of the ~10 best teams in the country, which is sort of what the BCS is for, but there aren't any great teams this year, so why not them getting in over, say, Oklahoma, who hasn't looked that impressive themselves?
The bowls can't go back to the backroom deals of old (under which NIU would have never gotten in) because they would be exposed for being the cartel that they are and face congressional action. So they're stuck in this current version where non-BCS schools get crumbs and sometimes it blows up in the bowls (and in this case, ESPN's) face. Fine by me.
I won't be happy until there is an eight-team playoff, with the first round at home campuses, and the big bowls (and their enablers) stand in the way. I could not care less what happens to the big bowls - they're fake "nonprofits" that are a pox on the college game.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:05 PM ^
Lol Niu lost to Iowa and had a terrible strenght of schedule, no business being in the bcs, nobody can ever cry about the little guy missing out again this is shit.
December 3rd, 2012 at 9:43 AM ^
They were 1 point away from an undefeated season. I like this move, and hope they can pull out a win.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:45 PM ^
Northern Illinois 1
Michigan State 0
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 PM ^
edit... why'd my image go away? Here's another for ya'll:
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
This season they taste like Parmessan Garlic boneless wings
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^
#MACCTION
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:49 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
This is stupid.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^
If either conference could place a team in the top 16, this wouldn't have happened.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
They'll be lucky if the stadium is this packed
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:52 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:32 PM ^
I assume that's all the folks from Dekalb, IL that you're looking at.
December 3rd, 2012 at 8:45 AM ^
You do realize the team playing in that game was MIAMI, right? And they game was played in MIAMI.
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^
I was making a joke, but FSU is not going to fill that whole stadium with fans. NIU has virtually no national following, and it doesn't sound like the fanbase is super-jazzed and will travel en masse. So no, I'm not saying it will look like that picture, but there will definitely be open sections.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
Isn't this the team IOWA beat?
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 PM ^
There should have been a bylaw that if you lost to this year's Iowa team, you're banned from the BCS.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:10 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^
NIU's non-conference results:
Iowa 18, Northern Illinois 17
Northern Illinois 35, Tennessee-Martin 7
Northern Illinois 41, Army 40 Army is 2-9
Northern Illinois 30, Kansas 23 Kansas is 1-11
Then they beat up a bunch of MAC schools and won the title game against a team that got blown out by Kentucky.
They're going to get slaughtered.
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:58 PM ^
They still play the games for a reason.
It may not be quite the slaughter some of you are expecting if FSU feels the same way. Also, NIU's quarterback is damn good.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:08 PM ^
Ok cool, lets just put Michigan with that schedule and go to the bcs every year, that schedule is a joke, the loss to iowa is a joke, their best win is over a team that lost to a terrible kentucky game. When deciding who the best teams are in a division with 120 teams you can't look at just record. Do you think w-l is a good stat for pitchers in baseball too?
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:35 PM ^
"their best win is over a team that lost to a terrible kentucky game"
a team that also handily whipped one of the Big East co-champions. You're cherry picking games off the schedule to make your argument.
Do I think NIU is one of the ten best teams in the country? Of course not. But they aren't the worst of the ten teams picked for a BCS bowl.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:57 PM ^
First off the big east is a joke so I don't really care about a win over a co-champion, secondly elite teams don't lose to kentucky. Third of all yes NIU is the worst team picked, when a team does nothing to earn a berth in the championship it should not be there. There is no way NIU plays in a single bcs conference and comes away with a championship, I just don't believe that based off what they have shown they should be in the bcs. Doesn't make other choices good or bad, but NIU is the worst.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:08 PM ^
"the big east is a joke so I don't really care about a win over a co-champion"
"There is no way NIU plays in a single bcs conference and comes away with a championship"
Make up your mind. Are all the BCS conferences superior or is the Big East a joke?
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:26 AM ^
I stand by both comments. I don't think the big east was a good conference so one win over a mediocre team is not that impressive. However even given that, I still think if you put NIU in the big east over the course of the season they would have lost more than they won. App state beat us, that doesn't mean they would have finished in the top half of the big ten that year. Both statements can clearly co-exist. Its like when the ncaa is doing tourny selection for basketball and a bad team from a bcs conference is listed as a good win for a mid major team and a bad loss for a bcs conference team. Winning week in and week out against even mediocre competition is more difficult than playing two or three mediocre teams and a lot of really bad ones.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 PM ^
Poor Northern Ill. What in Northern Illinois' performance makes anyone believe they can play with FSU?
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:34 PM ^
I can't speak for knickerbocker, but I am basing this on them being a MAC team.
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:55 PM ^
then GT could probably handle NIU
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^
If Florida State wins by less than 30, I will donate all of my mgopoints to you
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^
Dream on.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:18 PM ^
I completely understand where you're coming from (who likes to say that their team is doomed?), but predicting NIU will keep it close is akin to all of us who predicted that we'd beat (or at least challenge) Bama.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:29 PM ^
I'll give them an NC State chance. It is FSU we're talking about, after all. Any given Saturday they can flip the switch and lose to anybody.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:51 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
Uhhhhh....
I wonder how the NIU players are feeling. Fantastic, I imagine...but you have to wonder if, when the high wears off, they start to think "Oh, hell..."
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^
NIU will treat it like their Super Bowl, and FSU most likely will treat it like they are playing scrubs. No one gave Boise State a chance a few years ago against the powerhouse of Oklahoma, but look how that turned out.
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:04 PM ^
IMO, whether FSU can handle that will determine if FSU finds itself in a contested game.
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:33 PM ^
of the SEC Network - er- ESPN's MAC hatefest
December 2nd, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
So now Florida gets to eat Louisville alive instead of a real matchup like Oregon. At least some of the non-BCS bowls will be interesting.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^
Didn't they just lose their heaf coach to NC State? Will they be playing in a BCS Bowl without their HC?
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:07 PM ^
Happened with Cincy when Kelly went to ND